Mementos stolen from family of firefighter who died in Worcester Cold Storage fire

Sunday

Oct 6, 2013 at 6:00 AMOct 6, 2013 at 9:20 PM

By Dianne Williamson, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Tim Jackson Jr. was working Wednesday when his wife called to say that their house had been robbed.

"I pretty much thought it was a joke," he said.

Police were at the house when he arrived. Walking past them, he headed straight to the ransacked bedroom. Crouching on his hands and knees, he looked under the bed.

It was gone. The white safe, which held no cash but objects he considered priceless, had been stolen.

Jackson is the son of Timothy P. Jackson Sr., one of six firefighters who died in the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. building in 1999. Inside the safe were treasured, irreplaceable mementos from his late father, including a replica of his badge and his war medals from Vietnam.

"These things are so important and mean so much to us," Jackson said. "We didn't have much from my father, and now it's gone."

The theft is especially devastating to Jackson because of some painful history. The oldest son of the late firefighter, he was excluded from ceremonies and tributes to the fallen six because of a strained relationship between him and his father's widow, Mary. As a result, Tim Jr. received few mementos from the events, Jackson said, and his father's widow kept most of the firefighter's memorabilia. His father was married three times, and Tim Jr. is the son from his first marriage.

Neither Tim nor his wife, Buffy, are eager to rehash the past. Tim was even reluctant to go public about the theft until his wife convinced him that the publicity might help them recover the memorabilia.

In addition to the firefighter's badge and war medals — including a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star — the safe contained photographs, the elder Jackson's discharge papers from Vietnam, memorabilia from the fire site, rosary beads and some jewelry. Also in the safe was a letter of apology to the Jacksons from the family of Julie Ann Barnes, one of two homeless people who accidentally started the fatal fire.

Buffy initially broke the news about the theft in a Facebook post that attracted more than 1,600 shares.

"What was taken can't be replaced," she wrote Thursday. "This family is heartbroken but not broken."

Tim Jr. and Buffy have three grown children and five grandchildren. They said the elder Jackson adored their kids and would visit at least twice a week on his Harley motorcycle.

"Those things were all we had to pass down to the kids and grandkids," Buffy said. "To lose things like this, it's like losing him all over again. It's our history."

Whoever robbed the home off Mill Street came in through the back door and kicked in the locked bedroom door. Also stolen was an iPad, an Xbox and a laptop. They believe whoever broke in did so between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

On Friday, Buffy sat in the dining room with her sleeping 2-year-old granddaughter in her arms. Her own daughter, Christina Rose, 27, is little Adreanna's mother.

"Adreanna was robbed of her great-grandfather," Christina said. "She won't be able to hold his badge or the things he owned. Those things represented comfort and memories. On the holidays, we'd pull out an item and there would be a million stories."

The Jacksons aren't interested in prosecuting the person who took the safe, and they care nothing about the laptop. But they're begging — please, return the memorabilia. Put it in the mail, or leave it in the driveway. Return to this family a precious link to its past.

"I don't think they know what they took," said Tim Jr. "I hope this person has a conscience. It was hard enough to lose my dad. I had so little, but the things I did have meant the world to me."